1. Field of the Invention
This invention is a device for removing odors from air. Specifically, the present invention relates to air cleansing during the operation of a contemporary toilet to eliminate the unpleasant odors and adventitious bacteria. More particularly, the present invention concerns retrofitting the device onto existing toilets.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since the dawning of the modern age many people have at one time or another contemplated ways to cope with or eliminate malodorous air and ammonia that arises during use of the contemporary toilet. A number of methods have been employed for this purpose. These include burning candles, use of incense, opening windows, switching on overhead fans, spraying fragrances, use of elaborate toilet bowl designs and so on. These methods are ineffective, a nuisance to implement or too costly to install. Apart from the invention described herein, a single product, which is safe, effective and economical in dealing with this problem, has not emerged. Past solutions may have acted to ameliorate foul air to a limited degree, but they did so in a circuitous fashionxe2x80x94by rerouting the flatus or hiding it with fragrances and the like. Previous approaches do not target the fundamental cause of the trouble. The direct method of addressing this problem lies in the chemistry associated with the malodorous components themselves.
In contrast to fecal matter, tissue fluid, blood or other bio-fluids, the body of knowledge on the biochemical events giving rise to the formation of flatus is scant. Furthermore, there is not a single source that deals with the subject in a thorough fashion. Information on the compositional aspects of flatus taken from varied sources reveals the physiology and chemistry to be relatively plain. However, eliminating its negative properties affords a challenge. Flatus arises from aerophagia (swallowed boluses of air), gas diffusion (e.g. carbon dioxide) from the blood, bacterial production in the lumen, descending and sigmoid colons and from trace quantities of non-gaseous components carried with the flatus by mass transfer during expulsion. Swallowed air accounts for a large portion of nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide, while diffusion from gas gradients contributes much of the remaining carbon dioxide and nitrogen portions. Methane, hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide (as well as a small amount of mercaptan) and carbon dioxide result from bacterial fermentation of residual ingesta at the point of the lumen and at locations further down in the alimentary tract. The trace non-gases are primarily heterocyclic amines from protein-rich ingesta. Specifically, the two amino acids, proline and tryptophan can lead to pyrrole and indole (C4H5N and C8H7N respectively) derivatives subsequent to deamination/decarboxylation of the parent molecules. Nitrogen from deamination is nearly quantitatively converted to ammonia and later to urea in a formal condensation with carbon dioxide in vivo. Energy from that transformation is captured and stored in lipid form as ATP for later use in the body. The remaining moieties of the proline and tryptophan precursors are readily converted in vivo to pyrrole and indole nuclei respectively. Both of these materials are thermodynamically stable owing to their aromaticity, but this is especially germane in the case of indole and its derivatives, which are resistant to further catabolic breakdown. Its structural integrity and associated physical-chemical properties are preserved while in the body. Consequently, indole is believed to be more ubiquitous in flatus among the general population, and the only alkaloid of appreciable significance in flatus. Even so the majority of this non-gaseous component will be eliminated as-is in fecal matter rather than flatus. The only other relevant constituent in flatus is low molecular weight carboxylic acid (butyric acid for example) that is generated from enzyme hydrolysis of ester oils. Flatus components and their approximate relative abundance are depicted below.
It is to be noted that there is variation in flatus for individuals between expulsions as well as variation between individuals within the general population as a whole. For example, one third of the population produces no methane. This is why only ranges for flatus components are given.
The major components (Table 1) are present at a strength that is orders of magnitude greater than the minor ones (Table 2). The sum of all minor components in flatus seldom exceeds 1%. However, the most interesting aspect of flatus composition is that there is no major component which is malodorousxe2x80x94and there is no minor component which is not malodorous. Thus, as it is the principal intent of this invention to eliminate the experience of foul air exposure, it was only necessary to address problems created by the minor components (Table 2), and to a lesser extent, ammonia from urination. Indoles, pyrroles, carboxylic acids and most mercaptans are not gases at ambient or in vivo conditions. These four minor components, therefore, are susceptible to capture by activated charcoal. Indeed, in prior art, cited herein, a few previous inventors have incorporated the use of activated charcoal in their apparatuses. These devices were undoubtedly successful in removing these four substances, at least to a limited degree.
On the other hand activated charcoal cannot be used to mitigate hydrogen sulfide, contrary to numerous efforts and claims of the past. The mechanism for adsorption by activated charcoal involves, in sequence, condensation, Van der Walls attraction and capillary action to the interior core of the charcoal particle, at or near the boiling point of the intended substrate. With a boiling point of less than xe2x88x9260xc2x0 C., hydrogen sulfide cannot undergo even the first step of the adsorption process unless it is taking place under cryogenic conditions.
As ambient conditions are not conducive to this adsorption process, it would be advantageous to devise an alternative method for removing hydrogen sulfide, within the operating parameters to be found in the user environment.
The invention relates to a converter for use in a foul air eliminator. The invention further relates to the foul air eliminator comprising the converter.
The converter includes a chemically reactive component for chemically altering an odorous component of flatus. The chemically reactive component can include an oxidizing agent or an anhydride. The chemically reactive component can be drawn from the group consisting of carboxylic acid anhydrides, olefins, alkynes, carboxylic acid esters, aldehydes, isonitriles, alkyl halides, alpha diketones, acyl halides, diazo ketones, epoxides, isocyanates, isothiocyanates, thiocyanates, vinyl ethers, diazonium salts, alpha-beta unsaturated carbonyls, ketones, alpha-beta unsaturated nitrites, metal hydrides, and carbamates.
In an embodiment of the invention, the converter further comprises a component for ameliorating ammonia odor.
The chemically reactive component can further display disinfectant properties. The converter can further include a promoter to enhance the chemical conversion of flatus.
In one embodiment, the eliminator comprises a housing adapted to be supported from a toilet. In another embodiment, the eliminator comprises a housing adapted to be self-supporting.
The eliminator can further comprise a bed of activated charcoal, wherein the chemically reactive component works synergistically with the activated charcoal.
In one of its aspects, the converter can be removed when the chemical reactive component has been depleted. The eliminator can further comprise a fragrance repository.
In one of its embodiments the eliminator comprises an impeller for drawing a volume of gas through the converter. The impeller can be manually activated, or can be automatically activated, such as by a pressure actuator located under a toilet seat, by a light detector switch, or by a radio frequency detector switch.
In a further embodiment, the chemically reactive component includes a first zone including a hydrogen sulfide reactant and one of a Lewis base and a Lewis acid, and a second zone includes the other of the Lewis base and the Lewis acid. This embodiment can further include an activated charcoal zone. The zones can be formed as layers within the converter. The layers can further comprise a membrane for suspending the chemically reactive components.
In a further embodiment, the converter comprises a packed column containing porous beads impregnated with the chemically reactive components.